Kerry 1-10 Limerick 0-10:Despite losing Darragh Ó Sé seven minutes after the break, Kerry moved into second spot in Division One A, after a match played in driving rain at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney, yesterday.
Playing against an under-strength Kerry side who lost Eamon Fitzmaurice with a hamstring tear after five minutes, and 14 men for most of the second half, Limerick could not topple a Kerry side who showed remarkable spirit during that final 25 minutes.
The opening half was scrappy. Kerry were doing well at midfield where Darragh Ó Sé and Tommy Griffin were working hard but their new-look full-forward line were getting no change from Johnny McCarthy, even if Donnacha Walsh and Ronan Hussey looked useful on the wings. Walsh kicked two points from play, while Mike Frank Russell, Declan Quill and Séamus Scanlon completed Kerry's first-half tally for a 0-5 to 0-4 lead.
Michael Reidy with two frees, Mike Crowley and Jason O'Brien scored for the visitors who might have had a goal just before half-time but Diarmuid Murphy made a brilliant save from a point-blank Timmy Carroll drive.
Darragh Ó Sé and John Galvin were settling old scores in the first half and both were yellow-carded in the 15th minute. After Limerick resumed with points from James Ryan and Reidy, Ó Sé and Galvin clashed and as players joined in, things appeared to be getting out of hand. Ó Sé was dismissed on a second yellow card, Kerry's fifth red card in four games.
This should have signalled a Limerick onslaught but instead it was Kerry who upped their game as Mike Quirke and Scanlon took over midfield and Griffin drove forward.
Three unanswered points from Quill, Griffin and Walsh saw Kerry move two clear with 10 minutes left. Limerick levelled when Reidy and Browne scored but Kerry, driven by Marc Ó Sé, Aidan O'Mahony and substitute Pádraig Reidy, fashioned a goal from nothing in the 66th minute when a Walsh cross was dropped by a defender and Russell goaled. Late points from Ryan and Gareth Noonan were matched by Scanlon and Russell.
KERRY: D Murphy; M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan, M Lyons; B Guiney, A O'Mahony, R O'Flatharta; D Ó Sé, T Griffin (0-1); R Hussey, E Fitzmaurice, D Walsh (0-3); D Quill (0-2), S Scanlon (0-2), MF Russell (1-2, one free). Subs: M Quirke for Fitzmaurice; P Reidy for Guiney; T Walsh for Hussey; P O'Connor for Quill
LIMERICK: S Kiely; D Carroll, J McCarthy, S Gallagher (0-1); P Ahern, P Browne (0-1), P Ranahan; J Galvin, T Cahill; J Ryan (0-2), T Carroll, M Crowley (0-1); J O'Brien (0-1), S Cronin, M Reidy (0-3, one free). Subs: S Lavin for Cronin; G Collins for Crowley; G Noonan (0-1) for O'Brien; A Lane for Ahern
Referee: R Hickey ( Clare).
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